Sports

Colorado 12, Arizona 2

Charlie Blackmon slowly walked to his corner locker at Coors Field Friday afternoon. He might as well have been stepping back into his childhood. He asked a team official if he should wear a cap or change into a different shirt. He glanced at the reporters, numbering more than the Rockies roster, and joked, "This is just like it was with the Sky Sox."

Blackmon reached to the top shelf and retrieved a box that eloquently put a bow on a 12-2 home-opening rout of the Diamondbacks.

It was an Ultra Pro case. In it resided the baseball from his sixth hit, which tied Andres Galarraga's franchise record set in 1995. The baseball was authenticated and the plastic read in black stickers and gold letters: Charlie Blackmon, Opening Day 4-4-2014, 6-for-6, 5 RBIs, 5-for-5 Defense.

That about sums it up.

"It's like something you get when you are 12 when you hit a home run," he said, prizing the baseball and knowing the case was given partly tongue-in-cheek. "Sure I have had six hits before. I remember one game in whiffle ball in 1989."

This was the kind of game that happens on lazy days in backyards. Toss the ball, swing hard and yell "the crowd goes wild." It became real for Blackmon, a feat that left him a triple shy of the cycle, something that he was admittedly struggling to wrap his head around.

Blackmon doesn't prepare for prosperity. He loves routines, loves trying so hard to find solutions for mistakes that he's mentally exhausted. It's what pushed him toward his business management/finance degree at Georgia Tech a couple of offseasons ago. And why teammates know where to find him after games.

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"He has a routine. He loves to look at film and study everything," said good friend Jordan Pacheco. "That's who Charlie is."

His video analysis was cut short Friday. He watched only his unsuccessful stolen base attempt. He wasn't sure how to handle a 6-for-6, answering with humility - "If I had put my head down and run hard maybe I would have had the triple (in the sixth inning). Lesson learned" - so as not to anger the baseball Gods.

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon hits a single during the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks during Colorado's 12-2 win in its home opener Friday at Coors Field. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

"How does this happen? A little talent and a lot of luck," Blackmon said. "You go into the game, just thinking, let's get that one hit. Let's get the team going. You never think of something like this."

Blackmon was worried about making the team a week ago. He didn't perform well in spring, and with the club bursting with outfielders, he was worried he was heading back to Triple-A. Manager Walt Weiss saw it differently, valuing Blackmon's second half a season ago over anything that happened in March. He is now the primary starter in center field.

and said to laughs, "He will be in there (Saturday)."

Juan Nicasio and Blackmon were the driving forces in a successful curtain-opening to a soldout crowd, including 3,500 revelers screaming from The Rooftop in right field where Carlos Gonzalez's sixth-inning home run nearly landed.

Nicasio and Blackmon both studied for their A's on Friday, with Nicasio allowing one run in seven innings because of his commitment to his off-speed pitches.

"The slider," Nicasio said. "It was important."

He bridged the second and third innings by recording four consecutive outs with the pitch, something preposterous last season when he telegraphed the pitch. He also recorded three groundball outs on his split-fingered changeup, validation of why he's been gripping a slow-pitch softball for hours each day.

It has been a remarkable week for Blackmon. He started his first opening day on Monday, with his parents in attendance at Marlins Park, and awarded their commitment to his passion with the best game of his life Friday.

"I just found out the other night that my dad had to camp out one time just to get field time for us in tee-ball when he was coaching," Blackmon said. "I didn't even know it. They made so many sacrifices to get me to this point. This is a special day."

De La Rosa was nails in his opening-day start against the Marlins — until the fifth inning. After matching pitches with Miami ace Jose Fernandez, De La Rosa unraveled and gave up five runs. Before getting yanked, the lefty and catcher Wilin Rosario got in a spat on the mound about pitch signals. Asked on Friday whether Rosario will catch for De La Rosa on Saturday, manager Walt Weiss paused, then said: "Maybe." It will come down to matchups in the Rockies' batting lineup, Weiss added.

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